Hayley, like Merlin, came to the rescue as a "companion" horse. She was a premarin mare for all her life, so until she met us, she never knew any human as a "friend." Humans were just people who hooked her to machines, kept her pregnant, and stole her babies. Because that's where the drug Premarin comes from: pregnant mares who are hooked into box stalls and kept perpetually pregnant.
It horrifying.
When the drug company was done with Hayley, they shipped her to slaughter. The rescue found her and took her in. We figured she'd be with us for the rest of her life.
We were wrong in the BEST way possible.
Maureen Harmonay is an animal communicator who often worked with the Bay State Equine Rescue. When Maureen communicated with Hayley, she fell in love. Now, years later, Hayley seems to be getting younger and healthier. According to Maureen's latest update, "When I adopted her, three and a half years ago, we thought she was 25, but now I'm not so sure. She acts much younger. She's a sweetheart and loves her life and her friend, the handsome Arab, 'Back Bey.'"
Below is an entry that Maureen wrote three years ago and moves me still, which is why I keep posting it in my Blogathon.
Tribute to Hayley
The caption under Hayley’s photo on the Bay State Equine Rescue website warned me. “Hayley will steal your heart.”
Almost as soon as I met this gentle 22-year-old gray mare in July, I felt an instant attraction. I know that I was not alone in falling in love with Hayley. There is something about her that makes you want to wrap your arms around her. She seems both vulnerable and courageous, as if she has seen her share of hardship and abuse, but managed to get through it with quiet dignity.
In spite of the best of care at Bay State Equine Rescue for the last two years, Hayley’s body began to fail her this summer. She struggled to breathe, lost interest in eating, and was seemingly fading away, when an inexplicable health crisis hit.
We still don’t know exactly why, but Hayley’s limbs filled with edema, she developed severe ataxia, and she appeared to be at a perilous crossroads. Yet she never lost her will to live, and the look in her eye that said, “Don’t give up on me.”
Then slowly, miraculously, thanks to Bay State Equine Rescue’s dedicated efforts, Hayley began to recover.
In spite of the fact that I have not owned a horse for 20 years, I wanted to reach out to Hayley. To offer her a permanent home, with a stall of her own, in a place where she can enjoy the company of other well-cared-for retired horses, with nothing more to do than eat, graze, and roll in the pasture, whenever she wants to, for as long as she can.
What’s in it for me? Sweet Hayley has so much to teach me. She is a gift, and living proof that love can create miracles. I feel blessed to have Hayley in my life, and will cherish each day that I can have the pleasure of spending time in her wise company.
In adopting Hayley, I also hope to enable Bay State Equine Rescue to help another horse in need, and perhaps pave the way for one more miracle.
Maureen Harmonay
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